How to Make Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki sauce is a traditional Greek sauce that is found in many aspects of Greek cooking. One of its most common uses is as a sauce for gyros. It's also a very simple and tasty sauce to make at home. You can serve it with meat or simply as a dipping sauce for pita.

There are the ingredients that you will need:

Greek Style Yogurt (normal yogurt can be substituted if you cannot find Greek style yogurt--it will just be a little less thick and rich)

1 medium Cucumber

4 cloves garlic

lemon juice

salt

Directions:

Take one cup of plain Greek style yogurt and put it into a bowl. Although Greek style yogurts are becoming more accessible in most supermarkets, you may have to go to a specialty grocery market to find it. Alternatively, you can use plain normal yogurt. The end result may taste a little different but if you are in a pinch, it will do.

Take your cucumber and peel the skin off of it. You will also want to seed the cucumber slices as well. Chop the seeded cucumber into very fine pieces.

Try to remove as much moisture from your chopped cucumber as possible. This can be done in a variety of ways; one way is to put a very fine strainer on top of a bowl and place your cucumber on top. You can press down on the cucumber with a paper towel to remove the liquid fairly quickly. Afterwards, add to the bowl with the yogurt.

Finely mince 4 cloves of garlic and add to the yogurt-cucumber mix.

Add lemon juice to taste (2 teaspoons is a good starting point).

Add salt to taste.

Mix ingredients together and place in the fridge for a few hours for the flavors combine. If you are really hungry, you could start using it right away. However, it is worth waiting for the flavors to combine!

That's all you really need to do to make tzatziki sauce. It's very simple and very good. If you need ideas for what to serve alongside this sauce, try making a homemade gyro. Alternatively, you can use the sauce to give your burgers a little Greek flair. Tzatziki sauce also makes a great dipping sauce for veggies and breads (especially flatbreads like pita).